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My neck of the woods is Chicago. Byron is the president of DeLorean Motor City club.
Tony Swann and myself organize events for the DeLorean Midwest Connection club.

Tony and I have helped Byron organize a group display for Woodward the past few years,
since Byron has had his hands full with work and life in general, during Woodward events.

After having been squeezed into a few spaces near a liquor store and in the outfield of the
baseball field (in the rain) in Memorial Park (just off of Woodward at 13), I really doubt the
main reason for "liking" the MB location is because of where Byron lives, and has more to
do with that it is a very nice location, in a nice area, with parking for a whole group of cars.

My only issue with the MB location is - location. It is so far from everywhere. Granted you get a parking spot by the road with bleachers to sit in, but you cannot conveniently walk to any other local happenings (stores, shows, parties, displays, etc.). Over a mile walk to the nearest place that sells food. Found that out the hard way.

The baseball field at 13 mile was the best in my opinion. You were not cramped into a parking spot*, plenty of space, it was less than a minute walk to Woodward Ave. In between the ball field and Woodward was another grass area filled with other show cars. Once at Woodward there were plenty of food vendors for all tastes from "carnie" (Mmm Mmmm fried oreos!) to normal restaurants. Live music & other entertainment.

*Cramped Parking Spots
Rich mentioned the cramped Liquor Store location - funny - DMCH employees were the only people who utilized the "reserved parking" at that location (the parking lot to the right of the store). Everyone else crammed into the curb parking just out front which is FREE public parking that the store owners cannot reserve or sell. Looks like they made out on us that year for only two spots used.

If you get there early enough you can have the best parking spot right on the road. But it doesn't have "in and out" privileges that most desire for an occasional cruise with your spot saved for when you get back. You also have to deal with more people waking in and out right up against your car.

As far as traffic - 14 Mile Rd. is basically the middle of it all. If you are on Woodward driving North to 14 Mile Rd. or driving South to 14 Mile Rd. it will be much much slower than if you go to 14 Mile Road and drive either North or South from there.

My only issue with the MB location is - location. It is so far from everywhere. Granted you get a parking spot by the road with bleachers to sit in, but you cannot conveniently walk to any other local happenings (stores, shows, parties, displays, etc.). Over a mile walk to the nearest place that sells food. Found that out the hard way.

The baseball field at 13 mile was the best in my opinion. You were not cramped into a parking spot*, plenty of space, it was less than a minute walk to Woodward Ave. In between the ball field and Woodward was another grass area filled with other show cars. Once at Woodward there were plenty of food vendors for all tastes from "carnie" (Mmm Mmmm fried oreos!) to normal restaurants. Live music & other entertainment.

*Cramped Parking Spots
Rich mentioned the cramped Liquor Store location - funny - DMCH employees were the only people who utilized the "reserved parking" at that location (the parking lot to the right of the store). Everyone else crammed into the curb parking just out front which is FREE public parking that the store owners cannot reserve or sell. Looks like they made out on us that year for only two spots used.

If you get there early enough you can have the best parking spot right on the road. But it doesn't have "in and out" privileges that most desire for an occasional cruise with your spot saved for when you get back. You also have to deal with more people waking in and out right up against your car.

As far as traffic - 14 Mile Rd. is basically the middle of it all. If you are on Woodward driving North to 14 Mile Rd. or driving South to 14 Mile Rd. it will be much much slower than if you go to 14 Mile Road and drive either North or South from there.

It is the world's largest intentional traffic jam after all! :-)

Hey Shannon,

You are correct with our first year at the MB location, with the food situation. That was "fixed" the next year (and since then) with a food stand at the MB location,
which does not have "everything", but it does have hotdogs, brats, chili, snacks and drinks. They have also had a Cold Stone ice cream stand the past few years.

The Bloomfield Hills Township deal (MB dealership) also allows for additional non-display parking passes, which has come in handy for local and out of town guests.

The parking on the grass would have been fine if it did not rain as much as it did that day, but so many people were "looking for the DeLoreans" and not able to find
them right on Woodward. In and Out was limited (for cruising and then parking) and once things got really wet after the rain, it did make matters even worse.

I think we have both mentioned in the past that there needs to be a local "point person" that needs to do more leg work, to get things organized for Woodward, and
this needs to be someone who can plan and organize the event for the DeLorean owners (or groups of owners) who are driving in from more than a few miles away.

You are correct with our first year at the MB location, with the food situation. That was "fixed" the next year (and since then) with a food stand at the MB location,
which does not have "everything", but it does have hotdogs, brats, chili, snacks and drinks. They have also had a Cold Stone ice cream stand the past few years.

The Bloomfield Hills Township deal (MB dealership) also allows for additional non-display parking passes, which has come in handy for local and out of town guests.

The parking on the grass would have been fine if it did not rain as much as it did that day, but so many people were "looking for the DeLoreans" and not able to find
them right on Woodward. In and Out was limited (for cruising and then parking) and once things got really wet after the rain, it did make matters even worse.

I think we have both mentioned in the past that there needs to be a local "point person" that needs to do more leg work, to get things organized for Woodward, and
this needs to be someone who can plan and organize the event for the DeLorean owners (or groups of owners) who are driving in from more than a few miles away.

Thanks,
Rich W.

Well Inquiry to MB sent carshow@bloomfiledtwp.org from work. I will follow up in the a.m. with a phone call. I am looking at 10 spots and see the range of what I can get. I will see if I can get out there tomorrow or Thursday. I usually hang in Ferndale. I have been by there but unless you've done a show....

$50 is pricey though. No wonder I didn't go in that area. Ferndale practically begs people to come down there...

Its short notice but if you don't ask them (Bloomfield/MB) you don't know.

Well Inquiry to MB sent carshow@bloomfiledtwp.org from work. I will follow up in the a.m. with a phone call. I am looking at 10 spots and see the range of what I can get. I will see if I can get out there tomorrow or Thursday. I usually hang in Ferndale. I have been by there but unless you've done a show....

$50 is pricey though. No wonder I didn't go in that area. Ferndale practically begs people to come down there...

Its short notice but if you don't ask them (Bloomfield/MB) you don't know.

More to follow.
--Doug

A few things to note (some mentioned in earlier posts):

- past space requests placed in Spring (sell outs occur as early as late June)
- on-site spaces available on Saturday only if pre-paid spaces do not sell out
- in the past, you cannot reserve specific spaces (parking based on arrival)
- in the past, only 1/2 of pre-paid group spaces will park "on Woodward",
with the other 1/2 parking in the second row, still visible from Woodward
- individual "lead" organizers change every year or every two years, so it
is best to handle any group requests by phone rather than by email

Contacted my contact at the Ferndale Downtown Development Authority as well. See if they have a business there that would want to take 15 DeLoreans. I have used my D for Promos for them before. Problem is we would be south of I-696 though. Around 9 mile. Your thoughts?http://www.downtownferndale.com

Given the short suspense, I will go as see about other places as back up.

Do you know your headcount? Is your club flexible on location? Where is your hotel rooms at/where do you stay?

As I mentioned in my initial post for WDC 2016, Tony Swann and I have been "out of the loop" this year (due to DCS 2016),
so I have no information on any numbers of cars from any of the DMC clubs, where they may park and where they may stay.

In the past decade, we have stayed at a variety of hotels (and even stayed with King POG, Jeff Synor at his lake house twice),
but a few of the hotels we have used include the Met Troy (now closed), the Somerset Inn and the Detroit Marriott Troy.
We have used the last two most recently, since they are located on Big Beaver Rd and a very quick route to the MB location,
which is located just South of Big Beaver Rd on Woodward Ave. Somerset Inn also had a Car Wash station for Woodward cars.

There were several other places we have looked into recently, but we usually have a hard time trying to reserve a lot of spaces
for our whole group to park together and still have in/out capability for cruising (and not loosing our spaces while we cruise).

Contacted my contact at the Ferndale Downtown Development Authority as well. See if they have a business there that would want to take 15 DeLoreans. I have used my D for Promos for them before. Problem is we would be south of I-696 though. Around 9 mile. Your thoughts?http://www.downtownferndale.com

Since it's almost a 300 mile drive from the Chicago area, I do not think there will be many (or any) last minute attendees
going from this area to WDC 2016, since our club will drive either Thursday or Friday, so they can be 'awake' on Saturday
to be able to sit in traffic (on purpose) on Woodward. A few of us have done the trip starting at 1am on Saturday morning
and arrive on Woodward just in time for breakfast, but that makes for a really long day (not recommended).

Some of the local owners have mentioned they would like to find a new parking area that has more shaded areas, either
for the cars or at least for the owners to sit in the shade, to watch the cruisers go by. Not sure about "shaded" availability,
but the MB location offers a decent shaded area for owners to sit, up until about mid-afternoon, then direct sun until sunset.
We have had sun and hot weather more often than not, on the third Saturday of August, for the past decade or so.